This invention is directed to a disk drive device; more specifically, it is directed to a device for loading disk drive read-write heads onto a medium.
Over many years, a variety of devices that read and write information on a rotating disk medium have been developed and used as computer data storage devices. Of these devices, magnetic medium devices have been and still are among the most common computer storage devices. Widely used magnetic disk drive devices are generally available in two broad categories-removable and fixed. In particular, removable cartridge disk drives read and write information magnetically on a disk that is enclosed in a removable protective case. By contrast, fixed disk drives read and write information magnetically on a fixed disk that is permanently fixed in the data storage device.
Fixed disk drives are used as the principal data storage devices of computers, since they typically have data transmission speeds and storage capacities that are several orders of magnitude greater than removable disk drives. Obviously however, fixed disk drives have the drawback, as compared with removable disk drives, that the disk cannot be easily moved to another computer. As a result, it is ordinarily desirable to provide computers with both a removable disk drive along with a fixed disk drive and most desktop computers have both.
In recent years, however, mobile computers of very small sizes, such as hand held, notebook and lap-top computers, have become widely used. Because space in these computers is a premium, removable cartridge disk drives are attached externally or not at all. Furthermore, in such small computers, external removable cartridge drives are very inconvenient for mobile use. Hence, many of these types of computers do not have disk drives, but rather use IC card based storage media via a PCMCIA port on the computer. However, since IC cards use semiconductor memories, storage capacities are small, and costs are high. These drawbacks have made it difficult for such computers to use programs and data that have large storage requirements.
In response to the widespread use of small size mobile computers, smaller disk drives have been and are under development. Such drives present many development challenges including size and power constraints. The storage density is high and the components, smaller and potentially more delicate, are susceptible to damage. Moreover, small portable drives are likely to be battery powered and may share that battery power with a primary device such as a hand held computer.
Loading the heads onto the surface of the data storage medium is a critical part of the design of magnetic storage medium. Typically, the heads and the medium surface in magnetic storage devices are highly susceptible to damage. For example, small amounts of debris have been known to render drives and medium useless. Similarly, loading the heads onto the medium surface has the potential to damage the heads, the medium, or both. Moreover, loading the heads in small, high capacity device must also meet power and size constraints without causing damage to the drive or storage medium.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a head loading apparatus for disk drive device. Particularly, a disk drive device that is small and portable.